Seventeen-year-old Lisa McVey lives with her neglectful grandmother Diane Martin and Diane's boyfriend, Morris Elwood, in Tampa, Florida. Morris regularly sexually assaults Lisa, and her grandmother seems to ignore it. One night, after finishing a shift at a doughnut shop, Lisa is kidnapped by Bobby Joe Long. He rapes her in his car before taking her back to his studio apartment. Diane reports her missing but casually assumes she has run away.
Lisa is held captive in the apartment, bound and blindfolded, and repeatedly raped. To survive, she uses reverse psychology to gain his trust. While he sleeps, she leaves fingerprints in his bathroom and strands of hair under his bed, and she memorizes as many details as she can about Bobby and his surroundings. Her careful observations become crucial as she pieces together the layout of the place and the streets she traversed on the drive to the apartment.
After 26 hours, Bobby decides to dispose of her. He drives to a secluded wooded area and holds a gun to her head. Lisa pleads for her life, and, after her plea, he lets her go and flees. She memorizes her surroundings and makes her way home. When she bursts into the house, her grandmother and Morris refuse to believe what happened. Diane eventually calls the police, and they begin the formal investigation.
At the police station, a team of detectives is pursuing a larger case involving nine women found dead in the months prior. Sergeant Larry Pinkerton, a sex-crimes specialist, takes up Lisa’s case. Some detectives doubt her story because of how much detail she provides, but Pinkerton believes her and also believes her abductor is the killer they’re chasing. He sends Lisa’s clothing to the lab, where fibers match those found on all the victims.
As the investigation deepens, Pinkerton and Lisa grow closer. She confides in him about the abuse at home, and Morris is later arrested for child abuse. Pinkerton moves Lisa out of Diane’s home and into protective housing for young adults. Over the following days, Lisa guides the police through her ordeal, retracing the parking lot where she was abducted, the turns to Bobby’s apartment, and the tree where she was left. The police establish a two-mile radius search based on her memories.
A Pinkerton deputy spots a car that resembles the one Lisa described and snaps a photo that helps her identify the driver. Forensics comb Bobby’s apartment and find the physical evidence Lisa left behind. On November 16, 1984, Bobby Joe Long is arrested outside a movie theater. Lisa is publicly praised for her bravery and cooperation with the investigation.
Pinkerton offers Lisa a place at his home, but she declines and goes to live with Aunt Carol and Uncle Jim. She tells Pinkerton that he has not seen the last of her, and they part with a deeply emotional goodbye. A postscript reveals that Lisa lived happily with Aunt Carol, Uncle Jim, and Lorrie for many years. Pinkerton remains a lifelong friend to Lisa, who later becomes a deputy sergeant in Sex Crimes and dedicates herself to protecting young people from similar harm. Bobby Joe Long remains on death row, and a later airing of the film notes that he was executed in prison by lethal injection in 2019.
